Attachment for stemming machine



A ril 1, 1958 s. E. STRICKLAND 2,828,751

ATTACHMENT FOR STEMMING MACHINE Filed June 28, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Silas E. Strickland pm PM mg, Jwflw Y 7 ATTORNEYS April 1, 1958 s. E. STRICKLAND 2,828,751

ATTACHMENT FOR STEMMING MACHINE Filed June 28, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v INVENTOR ATTORNEYS @nited States Patent American Tobacco Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 28, 1955, Serial No. 518,457

3 Claims. (Cl. 131-126) This invention relates to attachments for stemming machines, and more particularly to a separator for use in connection with certain types of stemming machines to remove leaves that pass through the machine without being stemmed.

In a prior patent of Douglas W. Brashear, No. 2,303,908, granted December 1, 1942, there is disclosed and claimed a stemming machine in which the tobacco leaves are placed laterally on a traveling feed belt and fed to a pair of belts provided with carding pins. A pair of co-acting rolls are arranged on one side of the belts with their axes parallel to the path of the belts. These rolls are adapted to engage the stems of the leaves and pull them laterally. As the stem of the leaf is moved laterally by the rolls, the carding pins restrain the movement of the rest of the leaf. The stem is thus removed from the leaf and the stemmed leaf continues its travel to the outlet of the machine.

The machine of the Brashear patent has proved highly satisfactory in use. However, some leaves pass through the machine without stemming requiring the services of inspectors or operators to remove them, by hand, from the stemmed tobacco. This occasional passage of a leaf without stemming may be due to. one of many causes. It may not have been properly positioned on the feed belt, the stem may have been broken near the butt end and thereby have prevented the rollers from engaging it, or the rolls may have failed to grasp the stem because of some other abnormal condition, either in the leaf itself, or in the way it is fed along the feed belt.

In the present invention I provide mechanism for removing such unstemmed leaves as they approach the outlet end of the machine. For this purpose I provide a pair of co-acting belts adapted to engage any leaf on the table which has not moved laterally from the position it occupied at the inlet end of the machine. When the tobacco leaves are placed on the feed belt at the inlet end of the machine, they are positioned with their butt ends at one side of the table along which the feed belt travels, so that the end of the stem will be engaged by the co-acting rolls. As the stem is pulled laterally and the leaf separated from it by the carding pins, the leaf also moves laterally a slight distance. Therefore, any unstemmed leaf will be nearer to the side of the stemming machine opposite from the side on which the rolls and the belts carrying the carding pins are arranged than a leaf whose stem has been grasped by the rolls.

In carrying out the present invention, I provide a pair of coacting belts arranged with their inlet ends at a point with respect to the table of the stemming machine to receive any unstemmed leaf traveling along the table, and carry such leaf away to separate it from the stemmed leaves. A stemmed leaf, by its lateral movement, will be out of the path of the belts, and will continue to the end of the feed belt as in the present operation of machines of this type. Thus unstemmed leaves which are separated and collected can be again fed through the stemming machine. The attachment will thus greatly reduce,

2,828,751 Patented Apr. 1, 1958 or entirely eliminate, the passage of unstemmed leaves through the stemming machine, and thus reduce, or entirely eliminate, the necessity of removing unstemmed leaves from the tobacco at the outlet end of the machine.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown one embodiment of the invention. In this showing:

Fig. l is a plan view of a portion of a stemming machine showing the invention applied;

Fig. 2 is a detailed, sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse, vertical, sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a detailed, sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates the feed table of the machine sup ported on legs (not shown) or in any other suitable mannet at a convenient height above the floor. A pair of feed belts 2 and 3 deliver the leaves L to the machine. These belts pass over rolls 4 and 5 mounted on a shaft 6 and at their opposite ends (not shown) pass over similar rolls mounted on a similar shaft (not shown). The operative flight of the feed belts is along the upper surface of the table and the leaves are delivered to a pair of coacting belts 7, which belts are provided with carding pins as described and illustrated in the Brashear Patent No. 2,303,908. Arranged at the side of the table adjacent the belts 7 are two sets of coating rolls 8 and 9 which are adapted to engage the stem S of a leaf and withdraw it from the leaf as indicated by leaf L in Fig. l of the drawings. The parts of the apparatus heretofore described constitute the machine of the Brashear patent and are more fully described in that patent.

It will be noted that leaf L at the inlet end of the machine is placed on the belts in a position where its butt end is on the belt 3. This properly positions the leaf to have the stem S grasped by the rolls 8 and 9 to remove the stem. The tobacco of the leaf meantime is restrained from lateral movement by the carding pins of the belts 7. However, there is some lateral movement of a leaf if the stern S is properly grasped by the rolls 8 and 9. This is indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings by the comparative lateral positions of the'leaves L and L', the latter representing a leaf from which'a stem has been partially 'removed as the leaf continues to be fed through the machine by the belts 7. As the removal of the stem is completed, it moves slightly to the right as indicated at L in Fig. 1 of the drawings. But if the stem of a leaf is not grasped by the rolls 8 and 9, the belts 7 will feed it through the machine in a position substantially corresponding to that occupied by the leaf L at the inlet end of the machine. It will thus be in the position L as it reaches a point adjacent the outlet end of the machine. I therefore position my attachment with respect to the table 1 and belts 7 so that it is in a position to engage any leaf that has not moved laterally of the table and therefore has not been stemmed, but where it is not in the path of the stemmed leaves. The attachment consists of a pair of coacting belts 10 and 11. These belts pass over rolls 12 and 13, and 14 and 15, respectively, which are mounted in frames or brackets 16 and 17. The exact arrangement and positioning of the attachment is not critical, as long as the belts 10 and 11 are so positioned that a stemmed leaf being conveyed by belts 7 clears them. By way of illustration the table 1 may be provided with a slot 18 extending across the table at an angle to the side of the machine opposite rolls 8 and 9. Frames 16 and 17 may be supported in alignment with this slot in any suitable manner. A leaf remaining laterally of the machine in the position L corresponding to that of leaf L, Fig. l, on reaching the inlet end 19 of the attachment will be grasped by belts 10 and 11 and conveyed to the outlet end 20 of the belts. The leaves assume positions substantially as indicated at L and L as they are conveyed by the belts d and 11. There it may be deposited in a container or on a conveyor (not shown).

The belts 10 and 11 may be of any suitable cross section and are illustrated as V-belts. Rollerslz, i3, 14 and 15 are suitably shaped to receive them. On their operative flight the belts also pass over lower rollers21 and upper rollers 22 which are arranged to retain the belts in close contact with each other and thus cause any leaf received by the belts at the inlet end 19 to be fed to the outlet end 20. Lower rollers 21 may be mounted on pins or stub shafts 23 carried by the lower frame 16. Upper rollers 22 are mounted on pins or stub shafts 24 carried by pivotally mounted arms 25. Springs 26 are arranged between these arms and plates or brackets 27 to force the rollers downwardly and thus urge belt 11 into engagement with belt 10.

The return flight of the belts pass over take up rolls 28 and 29 carried by pivotally mounted arms 30 and 31. Rollers 12 and 13 are mounted on shafts 32 and 33. The shafts 34 and 35 of the upper rollers 14 and 15 may be provided with pulleys to receive a drive belt 36. One of these shafts is driven in any suitable manner, and the second one is driven by belt 36.

I may also provide a series of deflectors on table 1 to assist in feeding the unstemmed leaves to the side of the machine. As shown (see Figs. 1 and 4), a plate 37 extends longitudinally of the machine and is supported from platform 38. Platform 38 corresponds to platform 31 of the Brashea-r stemming machine. It supports a motor (not shown) which drives the belts 7 of the machine. This plate is spaced from the table, as indicated at 39 (see Fig. 4). It is in the path of properly stemmed leaves and the space 39 is to permit the passage of such leaves. Deflectors 40 and 41 are arranged beyond plate 37 and each extends at a greater angle than the other toward the side of the machine, as' shown in Fig. 1. These members are secured to the upper surface of the table, and their function is to facilitate delivery of unstemmed leaves to the side of the machine by belts 10 and 11. The deflectors separate any stemmed leaves which may be caught in the unstemmed leaves and prevent them from being transferred with the unstemmed leaves.

The operation of the attachment will be clear from the foregoing description. Any leaf whose stem S is removed by rolls 8 and 9 is moved laterally of the table 1 (to the right in Fig. 1) beyond the inlet end 19 of the attachment and the tobacco leaf with the stem removed passes to the outlet end of the stemming machine as intended in the normal operation of the machine. However, if the rolls 8 and 9 fail to grasp the stem for any reason, the leaf is not moved laterally of the table, and comes into the path of the belts 10 and 11. It is grasped between these belts and fed to the outlet end 20 of the attachment beyond the side of the table. There it is deposited in a container or on a conveyor, and disposed of as desired.

I claim:

- 1. In combination with a tobacco stemming machine in which tobacco leaves are conveyed by a pair of endless belts providedwith carding pins, and in which the stern of the leaf is engaged by a pair of coacting rolls having their axes parallel to the path of travel of the belts to remove the stem and cause limited lateral movement of the leaf, that improvement consisting of means for separating certain of the leaves comprising a conveyor arranged at an angle to said endless belts and having its operative flight beginning at a point intermediate the ends of said endless belts and on the side of said endless belts opposite to the coacting rolls, to engage any leaf that has not been moved laterally in its passage between said belts and separate it from the leaves that have so moved, and a series of deflectors arranged between said endless belts and said conveyor.

2. A stemming machine in accordance with claim 1 in which said conveyor means for separating certain of the leaves extends angularly to one side of the machine.

3. A stemming machine in accordance with claim 1 in which one of said deflector members extends parallel to the path of travel of the endless belts and the remainder of said deflector members extend upwardly and are arranged at angles extending toward the side of the machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

